Back in May of 2021, Matt Taibbi interviewed me for his Meet the Censored series. We talked about how critics of the official Covid narrative were being censored by global corporations like Twitter and Facebook. I got into my "GloboCap" shtick a little, but, all in all, it was pretty tame stuff.
Please see the (April 25) addendum at the bottom of this newsletter for an update on Substack Notes, which, unfortunately, became significantly less interesting a few hours after I sent out this newsletter. I apologize if I got anyone terribly excited. And, no worries, although I seem to be running out of social media, I will be right here in my BTL replies, which I do read, and respond to, occasionally. I'll try to do more of that in the future.
Apr 23, 2023·edited Apr 23, 2023Liked by CJ Hopkins
As grating as the pro-censorship totalitarianists on Notes can be, I have to thank them for prompting so many deliciously entertaining responses from you 😋
And I have to say it feels nice to have you there fighting so visibly for free speech and truth, CJ. During my rare excursions to non-Substack platforms, I’m used to being one of the lone voices battling the shrieks for censorship, whereas we have a strong pro-freedom contingency at Notes. Feels strange but good 💪
The really frightening aspect of the censorship is just how much control a single corporation has over the stifling of speech, namely Google and it's not just well known 'dissidents', it's anybody who steps out of line. When Russia's SMO began in February 2022, I was covering events and getting hundreds, even thousands of visits a day, then Google blocked searches and visits dropped to the tens a day. So I started checking other independent news sites and discovered that ANY site that told a different story was being blocked by Google's so-called search engine (in reality it's a ranking engine, which is why it's so successful at throttling any information that challenges the Empire). Google has managed to make itself indispensible by interposing itself as the MEDIATOR of virtually every aspect of the Internet that involves any kind of transaction between the user and data, of ANY KIND. This is unprecedented and it's happened without any kind of opposition as it's happened in small increments, one step at a time. Google is now the UNIVERSAL ARBITER of information! To see how complete Google's control is, try using the Internet without a Google account, Google can even block what email you get and send.
Forever grateful for anything I can receive from your work . I was able to get your book The Rise of the New Normal Reich , from amazon here in Canada , a place where the fringe are trying to say "not so safe and effective " and still don't openly talk about the WEF and/ or as as we should be ,in my opinion , re Xi's infiltration into our government's policies . We were locked down longer than most places , for the good of us all , and now can't wonder if Dr Tam, chief public health officer of Canada , is part of XI's infiltration and the WHO . Thank you for everything you are doing in this dystopian world ,some of us seem to be aware of .
Every pushback counts - yeah, even if it's just to the one pushing back. Integrity matters and self-censorship is the softest kind of compliance. Thanks.
It's hard (for myself, at least) to justify going the Notes route. What attracted me to Substack in the first place was the long form, as a counterweight to the daily food fight of weapons/surveillance platforms like Twitter and Facebook (and the panoply of similar "hot take" systems that have flowered in their wake.
That said, Godspeed to you and everyone else who decides to take the plunge. I will say it’s fascinating to me to see how writers like you, who align with me very little on ideas and policy can still see the same outlines of the larger threat. That’s heartening, and I'll continue to read your long form work for that reason.
First, I love you and what you have done, are doing and are attempting to do.
I won't engage in substack notes, because the format - twitter like as it is - brings out the worst in us. I guess somebody has to engage it though? Or perhaps not? Perhaps if everybody ignores it, it will wither and die, being left as a stinking echo chamber for the neo-cons. We need all our strength, and we can build the better world, ever mindful of the Japanese art of Kintsuge as we repair what was broken, ever so prayerfully - with the gold of what we were meant to be. Illustriously human. THAT part of being human is un-hackable. Big hug.
Remarkably, the article doesn't mention Matt Taibbi or Julian Assange.
Reminds me of a Mel Brooks routine in which he plays an 800 year old man who is being interviewed. When he's asked about the difference between comedy and tragedy, the 800 year old explains,
"Comedy is when it happens to someone else. Tragedy is when it happens to you."
With a bit of editing, we could apply the explanation to censorship.
You Americans are so lucky you have the second amendment. I’m Canadian and we are absolutely hooped: right up the Wazoo.
Listen, your guns aren’t going to overthrow leviathan , that is delusional. What your guns are doing is causing them not to come for you even more. Without your peacemakers, they would be all over you, like, for instance, Canada or Australia or Germany.
Your founding fathers were prescient ; the lesson of history is that government oppression
is the biggest threat to people. Think of the patriot act: the US government is clearly a bigger threat to your society than Islamic extremism.
The only way this is going to change (other than the pitiless crowbar a events) is if a significant portion of the elite, political establishment breaks with the new normal. Until then you are lucky that you have your guns to forestall their grand plans.
Interestingly , trying to make a living as a dissident by marketing your protests has been done to death and always fails or becomes a tool of the status quo at some point . Being too poor to contribute to your causes even though I concur with many of your published views , I'm immune to exhortations to contribute financially . However , I will continue to read what you freely distribute , but As Linh Dinh pointed out recently in one of his free post . Perhaps I paraphrase , old age produces sadness followed by indifference , at 75 I seem to have reached that point.
I am very wary of Substack Notes. I fear it will bring to Substack much of the toxicity of Twitter while having little prospect of attaining Twitter's reach, i.e., it will be toxic but not even useful.
Great and astonishing must read is Rod Dreher's rather new book (with reverence and awe attributed to the many stalwart, innovative and faithful survivors and servants interviewed who endured during Gulag and Soviet eras) - "Live Not By Lies" - A Manual for Christian Dissidents. Taibbi and others have more support and swelling ranks than you can imagine, however robustly they appear to be smeared in the mosh pit.
The fact that Taibbi's getting the "treatment" really overscores the point of the Neo-authoritarian/totalitarian project. It's like being banned from the Church of Lies, branded a traitor, a heretic, then scolded by the would be "New Normalites," never short on self-righteousness (Mehdi Hasan, Stacy Plaskett-"Case," the whole "What Happened to Matt?!" crowd, who might as well be getting paid by the alphabet agencies). The Biden Administration is in essence an intelligence agency construct, or Neo-totalitarian scaffolding; they've been gunning for Substack from its inception.
"We’re experiencing real-time Sovietization," with a huge dose of
techno/fascism an odd tyrannical combo, but nonetheless this is how the current breed of pyschos are rebranding an early 20th Century "transhumanist Malthusian eugenicist movement." This psychopathic ideology resurfaces every few decades with a slightly different look. This time it's being peddled under the banner of sustainability, health, equity, and multipolarism. Ironically, the advocates of this rebranded
multipolar/fascism are eager to have corrupt UN organizations controlling numerous operations via One World Governance. The brazen pschos have tested their social engineering projects around the planet, but especially in territories where populations lack agency; China has been a favorite haunt. The techno/fascists feel confident that AI technology is ready for primetime in the West. That's why they're testing central bank digital currencies along with digital ID'S in Western Europe and Canada. Interestingly enough, the same demented crap is occurring in Russia. So even though the plebs are told there's animosty and rivalries between nation-states it doesn't mean a thing as rulers worldwide are gearing up their "special" techno devices along with an assortment of concocted well-staged crises to
Please see the (April 25) addendum at the bottom of this newsletter for an update on Substack Notes, which, unfortunately, became significantly less interesting a few hours after I sent out this newsletter. I apologize if I got anyone terribly excited. And, no worries, although I seem to be running out of social media, I will be right here in my BTL replies, which I do read, and respond to, occasionally. I'll try to do more of that in the future.
As grating as the pro-censorship totalitarianists on Notes can be, I have to thank them for prompting so many deliciously entertaining responses from you 😋
And I have to say it feels nice to have you there fighting so visibly for free speech and truth, CJ. During my rare excursions to non-Substack platforms, I’m used to being one of the lone voices battling the shrieks for censorship, whereas we have a strong pro-freedom contingency at Notes. Feels strange but good 💪
The really frightening aspect of the censorship is just how much control a single corporation has over the stifling of speech, namely Google and it's not just well known 'dissidents', it's anybody who steps out of line. When Russia's SMO began in February 2022, I was covering events and getting hundreds, even thousands of visits a day, then Google blocked searches and visits dropped to the tens a day. So I started checking other independent news sites and discovered that ANY site that told a different story was being blocked by Google's so-called search engine (in reality it's a ranking engine, which is why it's so successful at throttling any information that challenges the Empire). Google has managed to make itself indispensible by interposing itself as the MEDIATOR of virtually every aspect of the Internet that involves any kind of transaction between the user and data, of ANY KIND. This is unprecedented and it's happened without any kind of opposition as it's happened in small increments, one step at a time. Google is now the UNIVERSAL ARBITER of information! To see how complete Google's control is, try using the Internet without a Google account, Google can even block what email you get and send.
Forever grateful for anything I can receive from your work . I was able to get your book The Rise of the New Normal Reich , from amazon here in Canada , a place where the fringe are trying to say "not so safe and effective " and still don't openly talk about the WEF and/ or as as we should be ,in my opinion , re Xi's infiltration into our government's policies . We were locked down longer than most places , for the good of us all , and now can't wonder if Dr Tam, chief public health officer of Canada , is part of XI's infiltration and the WHO . Thank you for everything you are doing in this dystopian world ,some of us seem to be aware of .
Every pushback counts - yeah, even if it's just to the one pushing back. Integrity matters and self-censorship is the softest kind of compliance. Thanks.
It's hard (for myself, at least) to justify going the Notes route. What attracted me to Substack in the first place was the long form, as a counterweight to the daily food fight of weapons/surveillance platforms like Twitter and Facebook (and the panoply of similar "hot take" systems that have flowered in their wake.
That said, Godspeed to you and everyone else who decides to take the plunge. I will say it’s fascinating to me to see how writers like you, who align with me very little on ideas and policy can still see the same outlines of the larger threat. That’s heartening, and I'll continue to read your long form work for that reason.
If you can judge a man by his enemies, congratulations on being one of the finest human beings in the world.
Hi CJ.
First, I love you and what you have done, are doing and are attempting to do.
I won't engage in substack notes, because the format - twitter like as it is - brings out the worst in us. I guess somebody has to engage it though? Or perhaps not? Perhaps if everybody ignores it, it will wither and die, being left as a stinking echo chamber for the neo-cons. We need all our strength, and we can build the better world, ever mindful of the Japanese art of Kintsuge as we repair what was broken, ever so prayerfully - with the gold of what we were meant to be. Illustriously human. THAT part of being human is un-hackable. Big hug.
Today's EL PAÍS has an article on repression of journalism and journalists.
https://elpais.com/opinion/2023-04-23/periodismo-bajo-amenaza.html
Remarkably, the article doesn't mention Matt Taibbi or Julian Assange.
Reminds me of a Mel Brooks routine in which he plays an 800 year old man who is being interviewed. When he's asked about the difference between comedy and tragedy, the 800 year old explains,
"Comedy is when it happens to someone else. Tragedy is when it happens to you."
With a bit of editing, we could apply the explanation to censorship.
You Americans are so lucky you have the second amendment. I’m Canadian and we are absolutely hooped: right up the Wazoo.
Listen, your guns aren’t going to overthrow leviathan , that is delusional. What your guns are doing is causing them not to come for you even more. Without your peacemakers, they would be all over you, like, for instance, Canada or Australia or Germany.
Your founding fathers were prescient ; the lesson of history is that government oppression
is the biggest threat to people. Think of the patriot act: the US government is clearly a bigger threat to your society than Islamic extremism.
The only way this is going to change (other than the pitiless crowbar a events) is if a significant portion of the elite, political establishment breaks with the new normal. Until then you are lucky that you have your guns to forestall their grand plans.
Interestingly , trying to make a living as a dissident by marketing your protests has been done to death and always fails or becomes a tool of the status quo at some point . Being too poor to contribute to your causes even though I concur with many of your published views , I'm immune to exhortations to contribute financially . However , I will continue to read what you freely distribute , but As Linh Dinh pointed out recently in one of his free post . Perhaps I paraphrase , old age produces sadness followed by indifference , at 75 I seem to have reached that point.
I am very wary of Substack Notes. I fear it will bring to Substack much of the toxicity of Twitter while having little prospect of attaining Twitter's reach, i.e., it will be toxic but not even useful.
Great and astonishing must read is Rod Dreher's rather new book (with reverence and awe attributed to the many stalwart, innovative and faithful survivors and servants interviewed who endured during Gulag and Soviet eras) - "Live Not By Lies" - A Manual for Christian Dissidents. Taibbi and others have more support and swelling ranks than you can imagine, however robustly they appear to be smeared in the mosh pit.
Cathy Young blocked you?! Oh no!
...who is that again?
The fact that Taibbi's getting the "treatment" really overscores the point of the Neo-authoritarian/totalitarian project. It's like being banned from the Church of Lies, branded a traitor, a heretic, then scolded by the would be "New Normalites," never short on self-righteousness (Mehdi Hasan, Stacy Plaskett-"Case," the whole "What Happened to Matt?!" crowd, who might as well be getting paid by the alphabet agencies). The Biden Administration is in essence an intelligence agency construct, or Neo-totalitarian scaffolding; they've been gunning for Substack from its inception.
"We’re experiencing real-time Sovietization," with a huge dose of
techno/fascism an odd tyrannical combo, but nonetheless this is how the current breed of pyschos are rebranding an early 20th Century "transhumanist Malthusian eugenicist movement." This psychopathic ideology resurfaces every few decades with a slightly different look. This time it's being peddled under the banner of sustainability, health, equity, and multipolarism. Ironically, the advocates of this rebranded
multipolar/fascism are eager to have corrupt UN organizations controlling numerous operations via One World Governance. The brazen pschos have tested their social engineering projects around the planet, but especially in territories where populations lack agency; China has been a favorite haunt. The techno/fascists feel confident that AI technology is ready for primetime in the West. That's why they're testing central bank digital currencies along with digital ID'S in Western Europe and Canada. Interestingly enough, the same demented crap is occurring in Russia. So even though the plebs are told there's animosty and rivalries between nation-states it doesn't mean a thing as rulers worldwide are gearing up their "special" techno devices along with an assortment of concocted well-staged crises to
contain and control the outraged billions.